


Pages from the Archives of Cîr Imladris

by lferion



Category: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Academia, Challenge Response, Double Drabble, Drabble, Drabble Sequence, Edain, Elrond's Library and Archives, Elves, Gen, Gondolin, Helcaraxë, Heresy, Law and Custom, New Rivendell, Nirnaeth Arnoediad, Paradox, Rivendell | Imladris, Solar-Eclipse, The Valar, kingship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-27
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:53:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 2,901
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24951889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lferion/pseuds/lferion
Summary: Elrond took his library with him to Valinor. In that archive are many things, and the  librarians and archivists of Cîr Imladris (New Rivendell) are kept delightfully busy.Now with chapters1. Cîr.Im-7837-a3 | Oh, the word of the king may be law2. Cîr.Im-AE:192-b | Preface to 'On Guest-Right'3. Cîr.Im-759 | 482 First Age, Note in High King Fingon's Hand4. Cîr.Im-7438-c2 | Thoughts on Execution, Idril Celebrindal5. Cîr.Im.IL-Misc:2769-a | Men, Elves, Pereldar and Paradox6. Cîr.Im-699 | Thoughts on Fëanor’s Actions, Fingon Fingolfinion7. Cîr.Im-4173-a-g | A: ~FA488 Report Notes, Push from Talath Dirnen to the Falas8. Cîr.Im-774-a-12v | In Love there is no Death9. Cîr.Im-4382a | Hate will not Answer10. Cîr.Im-774-a-12r | Uneclipsed
Comments: 30
Kudos: 55
Collections: Drabbling in Middle-Earth





	1. Cîr.Im-7837-a3 | Oh, the word of the king may be law

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Silmarillion Writer's Guild and posted [here](http://www.silmarillionwritersguild.org/archive/home/viewstory.php?sid=4462) on the SWG Archive.
> 
> Many thanks to Morgynleri and Runa for encouragement and sanity checking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for the Silmarillion Writer's Guild Law and Custom challenge, to the prompt: "'It is decreed by the king; but that does not make it so,' answered Elendil." ~ The Lost Road
> 
> Double-drabble text, with a single-drabble note, not counting the headers.

Text of Cîr.Im-7837-a3

Oh, the word of the king may be law, if decreed as the Word of the King, witnessed, recorded, proclaimed, accepted. Among the Elves. For the Elves choose their kings, choose who they will look to as Lords, as leaders, as Kings. One knows a King by their healing hands, thoughtful judgement, generous heart, and Word that creates.

Among Men, it is not always so, neither the choosing by the people, nor the attributes of Elven kingship. Long did Elros' descendents rule after the manner and grace of the Elves, in greater and lesser degree, but not always. Nor are the ways of the Elves always the best fit for the governance of Men, who live to a different scale, a faster tempo. Our Songs may harmonize, but they are not the same.

And in neither case are Word and Law, Decree and Right Rule the same, or always (even sometimes) correct, true, the best decision or guidance. Nor - and this some of you will deem heresy, but hear me out - nor are the laws of the Valar always right, just, or reasonable: for they are not as us, nor as Men. We are not their subjects, but Eru's Children.

* * *

Archivist's Note:

Text found on a loose piece of paper, tucked into the back of one of the (many) Miscellany Books in Elrond's library. The hand does not match that of the book, but bears similarity of form, as if learned from the same school or teacher. On analysis, the paper proves Beleriandic, likely Dwarf-made, or made by one who learned the art from that people. The ink is an ordinary carbon-oak mixture, the pen unremarkable. It is not possible to determine location or time more precisely.

Some would, indeed, consider the third part heresy of the first water. Others ... would not.

* * *


	2. Cîr.Im-AE:192-b | Prologue to 'On Guest-Right'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for the Silmarillion Writer's Guild January 2021 Resolutions challenge:  
> The bonus prompt for January 2 for the New Year's Resolution challenge comes from our Laws & Customs challenge from this past June:
> 
> "‘Who’s that? Be off! You can’t come in. Can’t you read the notice: No admittance between sundown and sunrise?  
> ‘Of course we can’t read the notice in the dark,’ Sam shouted back. ‘And if hobbits in the Shire are to be kept out in the wet on a night like this, I’ll tear down your notice when I find it.’"
> 
> ~ _The Return of the King_ , “The Scouring of the Shire”
> 
> Also posted on SWG
> 
> Double-drabble text, double-drabble commentary, not counting the headers.

Text of Cîr.Im-AE:192-b 

Another difference in the customs of the Noldor, the Sindar, the Iathrim, the Dwarves, and the various Houses of Edain: the manner and force of what might be called guest-right. Against whom may the gates be closed? Under what circumstances is the door to be opened no matter other exigencies? Are the daylight hours more welcoming than those of the Moon and Stars? (The Elven kindreds mark no difference between day and night regarding this, though those settlements and strongholds closer to peril will be more watchful during the hours fell things are more likely to move, it is also then that a traveller's need may be greater. Whereas Men hold night and day to be very different, and entrance after twilight or dawn requires pressing need indeed.) How long is a known person welcome? An unknown or one asking asylum? What may a guest expect beyond a roof, water, warmth, and at least one meal? Is return of some kind expected, the offer welcomed, or the opposite?

All these questions and more must be considered when working on behalf of the High King, or any other lord. Insult, negligence, ignorance or other lack will not serve messenger nor ambassador.

* * *

Archivist's Note:

This text is a single page from what was apparently a longer document, not the one it was found in: interesting though that volume is, guest-right is not its subject. Nor is there a match between the paper, ink, style, or the writer's hand. The page is finely finished vellum, thin and supple, the ink pure carbon-black. The writing style is a synthesis of Quenya syntax and formal Northern Sindarin vocabulary, indicating a composition date not long after contact was made with Doriath, the writer clearly Noldor. The hand is clear, precise and elegant — a copybook example of Pre-Darkening Tengwar.

I suspect Caranthir may have written this. One hopes the document it prefaces has also survived, either the original or a copy. Very little of Caranthir’s work has come down to us, unfortunately, but his contacts and interactions with Dwarves and Men form an important part of our relationships with those peoples even now (year 537 of the Third Age): as much or more than those of the lord Finrod, especially as regards the more northerly folk. I shall keep looking.

(V-142, summer) I found it! The original even — bound between two chapters of IL3824-c22 [Penmithel’s ‘Divers Arts’ copy 22].

* * *


	3. Cîr.Im-759 | 482 First Age, Note in High King Fingon's Hand

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for the Silmarillion Writer's Guild January 2021 Resolutions challenge:  
> The bonus prompt for January 3 comes from our True Leaders challenge from July 2020:
> 
> "I have learned over the years that when one's mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear."  
> ~ Rosa Parks
> 
> Double-drabble text, with a single-drabble note, not counting the headers.

Text of Cîr.Im-759 [482 First Age, Note in High King Fingon's Hand]

I am afraid. Of course I am afraid. Tomorrow we stand forth against the the Black Foe, the Destroyer, the Vala once second only to Manwë in might. Against his Maian lieutenants and servants, Gorthaur and his wolves, Gothmog and his legions led by others of his ilk. People, my people, people who have gathered here at Maedhros' and my word, Elves and Dwarves and Men will die on the morrow. People I love and care for, people I am responsible for will be fighting terrible foes, and battle is never certain. Maedhros or I could be lost, though I and he have taken what precautions and made what preparations we can against that possibility. I do not *believe* either of us will perish, nor do I fear it particularly. Neither do I think any outcome fated. 

This battle must be fought. We have chosen our ground, the day, mustered our forces, hammered out a strategy sound and flexible, as any battle-plan must be. Victory is within our grasp, but we can hold nothing back, nothing must hinder me or any of us. I put away doubt, fear, caution; holding only purpose, skill, enduring love, steadfast hope: day is coming.

* * *

Archivist’s Note

A note in High King Fingon's own hand, dated by context to the day before the Fifth Battle, Midsummer's Eve 482fa. This is a small square piece of fine vellum, much handled at one time after being written. There are small salt-water stains, but the ink -- good quality carbon-oak -- has not run. The pen used for the calligraphy in the first paragraph was in need of trimming, and was trimmed before writing the second. 

Of particular note are the small embellishments: stars of various numbers of points, including 8-rayed-and-pointed Feanorian, and a small line-portrait I believe to be of Maedhros.

* * *


	4. Cîr.Im-7438-c2 | Thoughts on Execution, Idril Celebrindal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for the Silmarillion Writer's Guild January 2021 Resolutions challenge:  
> Our bonus prompt today comes from June's "Laws & Customs" challenge:  
> "Then they cast Eöl over the Caragdûr, and so he ended, and to all in Gondolin it seemed just; but Idril was troubled, and from that day she mistrusted her kinsman."  
> ~ _The Silmarillion_ , "Of Maeglin"
> 
> Also posted on SWG
> 
> Double-drabble text, single-drabble commentary, not counting the headers.

Text of Cîr.Im-7438-c2 [Thoughts on Execution, Idril Celebrindal]

How can putting someone to death ever be right? Whatever they have done? I do not mean the death given as mercy to those who would otherwise be defiled, taken, tormented by the Enemy or his minions before they could die, or worse, their fear kept from Mandos by the cruel one; nor the bitter mercy given those of the yrch who were once our kind, our kin, and are now not them at all, but the thing that killed them, whatever form or voice or even spirit say (and if they are not dead, but trapped within, how more necessary to release them to find healing and new life across the sea? And killing that which is trying to kill you is defense, not murder. And if Eol's actions were criminal, were murder, why had he not a trial, allowed to speak in his own defense? His son speak, a Sinda that lived not within walls before choosing here to dwell navigate the perils of that life? But there was no trial, only the long fall. Mayhap he and my aunt may find each other in the Halls.

How do I regard my father now, who ruled it so?

* * *

Archivist's Note:

By context, the writer of this piece is Idril Celebrindal, though the hand is not much like that seen in the only other document attested to be hers in the Imladris archives, a formal letter sent from Sirion to Cirdan on Balar. This may be a scribal copy, though if so, the copy was made not long after the composition, as the paper and ink are identifiably of Gondolindrin make. It certainly makes one think about what one does not and cannot know of Eol and Irisse, his actions and his death. Why was there no trial? What really happened?


	5. Cîr.Im.IL-Misc:2769-a | Men, Elves, Pereldar and Paradox

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for the Silmarillion Writer's Guild January 2021 Resolutions challenge:
> 
> The bonus prompt for January 11 comes from "Utopia/Dystopia" this past August. While we generally offered two opposing prompts, this one neatly manages to roll utopia and dystopia all into one:
> 
> “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”  
> ~ Charles Dickens, _A Tale of Two Cities_
> 
> Single drabble text, single drabble note, not counting the headers

Text of IL-Misc:2769-a

Men are fond of paradox, I find, and are quite capable of holding two (or more!) different views on the same event, person, thing at the same time. Elves, generally, in my experience, may hold several views as possible, until with more information, more consideration, one view will come to the fore and stay there. Men, for example, are quite comfortable with the world being both flat and round, a plane and a sphere, though they are not at all likely to experience both states. Most Elves are quite uncomfortable with it. Pereldar live thus, in both, even after Choosing.

* * *

Archivist's Note

This is a copy or transcription of an original now lost. The ink and paper are typical late Second to mid-Third Age materials made for general Imladrin use. The hand is scribal and uninformative. By context, the original was composed after the Drowning of Numenor and the reshaping of the world. The writer is apparently one of the pereldar, but it is uncertain whom of that small number it might be. It is unusually uncertain of tone for Lord Elrond, but not impossible. More likely one of his sons composed this, or possibly Arwen in her youth. It is a puzzle.

* * *


	6. Cîr.Im-699 | Thoughts on Fëanor’s Actions, Fingon Fingolfinion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for the Silmarillion Writer's Guild January 2021 Resolutions challenge:  
> \-- Day 6: Today's bonus prompt is an addendum to our Crackuary bingo card from February: a bonus 3x3 mini-card! - C3: Feanor did nothing wrong,  
> \--Day 13: The 13th's prompt comes from June's "Laws & Customs" challenge:  
> “Then there was great unrest in Tirion, and Finwë was troubled; and he summoned all his lords to council. But Fingolfin hastened to his halls and stood before him, saying: ‘King and father, wilt thou not restrain the pride of our brother, Curufinwë, who is called the Spirit of Fire, all too truly? By what right does he speak for all our people, as if he were King?’”  
> ~ The Silmarillion, _“Of the Silmarils and the Unrest of the Noldor”_
> 
> Single drabble text, single drabble note, not counting the headers.

Text of Cîr.Im-699 | Thoughts on Fëanor’s Actions, Fingon Fingolfinion

What if. What if Fëanor’s actions were the best possible under the circumstances? What if he had not crafted swords of use as well as beauty, teaching the art of their making to all his sons, their use to them also, and the idea of them to all who witnessed that confrontation? What if he had listened more to Morgoth? What if the Noldor had never returned to Ennor, returned unswiftly, and the Moon had risen over a land peopled with yrch, Cirdan fallen, Doriath besieged? What if Beren had never met Luthien? How dark would the world be then?

* * *

Archivist's Note:

This is hastily written on a piece of paper torn from a larger sheet, possibly part of a letter. The paper and ink are the usual composition used in Barad Eithel from approximately 300FA through to the Fifth Battle, the pen badly in need of trimming. The hand is recognizably Fingon's, one of several attested quickly written notes. This is unusual in pertaining more to philosophy and unanswerable questions than the supply requests and day-to-day reminders that comprise most of the rest of these small, quick documents. Other examples of his thought are carefully written in his Miscellany. [See Cîr.Im-H32a]

* * *


	7. Cîr.Im-4173-a-g | A: ~FA488 Report Notes, Push from Talath Dirnen to the Falas

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for the Silmarillion Writer's Guild January 2021 Resolutions challenge:  
> \-- Day 10: Bonus prompts are images for instadrabbling from the Naturalist's Guide to Middle-earth challenge, Sept 2020. [Image 9, Man-o-War Jellyfish](https://www.flickr.com/photos/biodivlibrary/50804336476/) and [Image 14, Pitcher Plants](https://www.flickr.com/photos/biodivlibrary/50803576988/)  
> \-- Day 23: Today's bonus prompt comes from "Laws and Customs":  
> “Then the servants of Angband were driven out of all the land between Narog and Sirion eastward, and westward to the Nenning and the desolate Falas; and though Gwindor spoke ever against Túrin in the council of the King, holding it an ill policy, he fell into dishonour and none heeded him, for his strength was small and he was no longer forward in arms.”  
> ~ The Silmarillion, _“Of Túrin Turambar”_
> 
> Double drabble text, double drabble commentary, not counting the headers

Text of Cîr.Im-4173-a-g | A: Sailing-Stingers and Pitcher-Plants

We drove them back, the yrch, the troll-kind, the evil-hearted trees. Fangorn was with us, Ent-lord, tree-herder: they dealt with the trees. We knew this action for respite, not victory, but did not fail to take advantage where we could. My riders and I were harrying a group of roa-yrch before us as we reached the Falas, desolate of people, but not of defense -- Osse had sent a fleet of bright sailing-stingers, and they did much of the final assault for us. Maentâl, barefoot as usual, was stung; he is healing, slowly. The yrch died quickly, stung, struck, or drowned.

Our return from that sortie was not quick, for we looked for stragglers and other troublesome leavings. Sometimes it is difficult to tell the difference between a plant or creature that has grown defenses from the Enemy's assault, and one that has been warped to malice by the Enemy. The sailing-stingers are the first sort, as I think are the pitcher-plants, with their lidded wells of sticky syrup, eagerly luring venom-flies and worse of the second kind to well-deserved doom. We vanquished several laggard roa-yrch, a draug-yrch, and put a badly mangled and mistreated lesser were-worm out of its misery.

* * *

Archivist's Note:

This is one of several small sheets, loosely folded together, all with notes that appear to be part of a report regarding one group's efforts in the campaign instigated by Turin to drive the agents of the Enemy from the Talath Dirnen and into the sea. The writer was much interested in the plants and animals, and their observations, scattered through the various documents, have added considerably to our understanding of the ecology of that part of Beleriand, especially as it was affected by the influence of Angband. I believe the 'sailing-stingers' to be the sea-creatures the Teleri call Eithavainare.

This entire document-set was added to the Archive at Imladris late in the 2nd Age, when Maentâl Sílorion was intending to Sail. The mark of the injury from the sting was still visible on his foot and ankle [and he goes barefoot even now -- he has visited the new Archive] a testament to the effectiveness of the armament of the creatures. The pitcher-plants can be found in Aman, though nothing that might be described as 'venom-flies,' supporting the writer's assessment of them as the Enemy's malice. The writer is not named, though internal evidence indicates one of the Amanyar Noldor.

* * *


	8. Cîr.Im-774-a-12v | In Love there is no Death

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for the Silmarillion Writer's Guild January 2021 Resolutions challenge:  
> In honor of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday tomorrow (Jan 15), we offer a pair of quotes as a bonus for August's "Utopia/Dystopia" challenge:  
> “In the final analysis, love is not this sentimental something that we talk about. It’s not merely an emotional something. Love is creative, understanding goodwill for all men. It is the refusal to defeat any individual. When you rise to the level of love, of its great beauty and power, you seek only to defeat evil systems. Individuals who happen to be caught up in that system, you love, but you seek to defeat the system.”  
> ~Martin Luther King, Sermon Delivered at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, November 17, 1957  
> “[T]he absence of freedom is the presence of death. Any nation or government that deprives an individual of freedom is in that moment committing an act of moral and spiritual murder. Any individual who is not concerned about his freedom commits an act of moral and spiritual suicide."  
> ~ Martin Luther King, Address at the Fiftieth Annual NAACP Convention, July 17, 1959
> 
> Double drabble text, single drabble commentary, not counting the headers

Text of Cîr.Im-774-a-12v

In love there is no death -- loss, yes: of form, of physical interaction with this world, of bonds with Men, but not of memory, not for the Eldar. Love has freedom at its core: freedom to join, freedom to stand apart from joining, freedom to observe and freedom to act. 

Love takes responsibility for the freedom it upholds, just as freedom takes responsibility for action and inaction in its service. Consequences are part of freedom to act, to be, to do, and cannot be put aside, ignored, but must be taken, acknowledged, accepted, part and parcel of love, of life. 

Unfreedom is death. Not the death of Men, Iluvatar's Gift, the going onward to whatever end, that the Eldar do not, cannot know. Nor the death of the body that sends the fea to Mandos' Halls, to be rehoused in time. Tis Death of the spirit, dissolution, unmaking, the Void. To be unfree, imprisoned, held in chains (forged of metal, will, manipulation of feeling, whatever might hold fast that which should be free) is to be dying, slain, constrained into oblivion. 

Or mayhap I know nothing of what I speak. I have not died. I hope I have not killed.

* * *

Archivist's Note

This note, a careful copy in a scribal hand, was found with several other similar notes, tucked behind the bound pages and the back cover of Cîr.Im-774-a | Blue Miscellany, which internal evidence places as belonging to and largely scribed if not written by Findekáno Ñolofinweion. [See also Cîr.Im-H32a] These notes, in various hands and styles, appear to be intended to be copied into the book itself. This particular note cannot have been composed by King Fingon, for the mention of Men places the composition firmly after the Exile, though the style is similar to his. Another mystery among many such.

* * *


	9. Cîr.Im-4382a | Hate will not Answer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for the Silmarillion Writer's Guild January 2021 Resolutions challenge:  
> \-- Day 15: For January 15, in honor of MLK's birthday today, comes a bonus prompt from July's "A True Leader" challenge, featuring quotes from women in leadership roles:  
> “Hate is too great a burden to bear. It injures the hater more than it injures the hated.” ~Coretta Scott King
> 
> Single drabble text, single drabble note, not counting the headers.

Text of Cîr.Im-4382a | Hate will not Answer

I would like to hate you. I want to. I am angry, furiously, unspeakably angry at you, what you did, were party to. You swore no Oath, invoked no Names never to be spoken in binding wrath. Hate would be so easy, warmth in this cold (fevered, hectic fire), simplicity in complexity (nothing here is simple).

But hate will not answer, however darkly attractive, seductive, satisfying. It is too heavy a thing to carry on this fragile, fickle Ice. We need you, and you bear too much already, ~~hate yourself more than I ever could~~ enough for all of us.

* * *

Archivist's Note:

This appears to be not a transcription or copy, but the original. The paper, a scrap carefully torn from a larger sheet, is excellent quality, similar to paper from documents attested to be from Aman, though the ink is not quite of that quality (obviously it was good enough to have lasted until now, only a little faded). The hand is in keeping with the paper, a precise and elegant Tengwar, with few if any idiosyncrasies. It would seem to have been written during the Crossing of the Ice. The writer remains unknown. Some believe the subject is Findekáno Nolofinwion.

* * *


	10. Cîr.Im-774-a-12r | Uneclipsed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for the Silmarillion Writer's Guild January 2021 Resolutions challenge:  
> \-- Day 16: January 16 comes from the "Postcards from Middle-earth" challenge:  
> Image: [Eclipse seen from the Moon](https://the-public-domain-review.imgix.net/shop/edit-RP-F-2001-7-489-23-small.jpeg)  
> \-- Day 18: Today's bonus comes from the True Leader challenge: "The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them." ~ Ida B. Wells
> 
> Single drabble text, single drabble note

Text of Cîr.Im-774-a-12r | Uneclipsed

Light cleans wounds of many kinds; true light. It matters little the source, as long as it is true light: Sun, Moon, Star, gem crafted for joy, lamp lit for beauty, fire for warmth, illumination, love. Even hidden light will serve: mistlight, reflected, refracted, eclipsed, creeping through the cracks to shine on wrongs to make them right. And sometimes shadowed light is the most revealing, the most healing. Colors hide in shades of grey. Astonishment at the edge of an eclipse. Brilliance, effulgence, extravagance of light may scour clean, reveal a truth in unrelenting beams, but kindness may shine softer.

* * *

Archivist's Note:

This text is on the back (hair side) of the same slip of parchment as Cîr.Im-774-a-12v, written in the same scribal hand, in the same carbon-oak ink and slightly frayed pen, likely at the same time. However the composer of this piece is not the same. The words chosen are more elaborate and archaic, the style much more formal. Unusually, the text is accompanied by a small sketch of an eclipse over steep and rocky mountains. The ink in the drawing is a reddish brown, likely burnt sienna.The artist may have been King Fingon himself, though this is not certain.

* * *

* * *


End file.
